With all the attention on the Raptors’ first round selection, Bruno Caboclo, it was easy to forget the team also picked somebody else on Thursday night.

Former Connecticut Huskie DeAndre Daniels went to Toronto at No. 37, a few months after helping lead his team to the NCAA championship in Arlington, Tex.

Nobody expected the Huskies to come anywhere close to the title, just a year after being banned from the tourney, but Daniels and the rest of the squad had heart, as well as talent.

The lithe, 6-foot-9 forward will bring rebounding and scoring punch to Toronto, though he will have to bulk up considerably to defend power forwards, or prove he has the lateral quickness to guard small forwards in the NBA.

During the NCAA tournament, UConn head coach Kevin Ollie sang Daniels’ praises, and he responded by making the all-tournament team. When Daniels grabbed at least eight rebounds last season, the Huskies had a strong record and Daniels became a more effective scorer, averaging 19 points per game in those games, according to Ollie.

“DeAndre was doing a great job finding his niche in our offence,” Ollie said at the time. “He’s a dynamic scorer. He’s a hybrid four, hybrid three, whatever you want to call him. He’s just a great player inside out.”

Daniels was not as good in the regular season, so Ollie was asked what changed at the most important time?

“I have no roofs on my players, so we don’t even look at limitations. I think he’s going to be a great outstanding basketball player,” Ollie said.

“He’s learning how to be more consistent and that’s not only in basketball. That’s eating right, sleeping right. It’s a lot of other things that a lot of people don’t see.

“What changed his game, we made it simple for him. It’s about touches. A touch is a defensive rebound, an offensive rebound, doesn’t have nothing to do with points. It’s a deflection. It’s a block. When he’s playing with effort and energy, he scores.

“We want him to get rebounds. We want him to be active. Then his talent just takes over. He’s 6-foot-9 and can shoot the three. I can put him on the post. I can manipulate the defence with him. But if he doesn’t play with that activity, it kind of limits him a little bit.”

MORE CAN-CON

Four Canadians were drafted on Thursday and four more will get Summer League invites. Montreal’s Khem Birch will either play for the Los Angeles Clippers or Washington Wizards in Las Vegas, as first reported by Pete Yannapolous, and sources tell the Sun that Calgary’s Jordan Bachynski has drawn interest from Charlotte and New York, Brampton’s Sim Bhullar, all 7-foot-5 inches of him, will play for Sacramento’s entry, along with Vaughan’s Nick Wiggins and Brampton’s Melvin Ejim will suit up for either San Antonio or Philadelphia.

AROUND THE RIM

The present looks horrible for Philadelphia, but coming away with Joel Embiid, Dario Saric — potentially two of the top five players in this draft long-term — a future first and second and more on Thursday makes the future look pretty bright … You had to love commissioner Adam Silver announcing that the NBA had “drafted” Isaiah Austin, the Baylor big man who saw his NBA dream die days before the draft due to a medical condition. Many were moved to tears as Austin took the stage … LeBron James got his wish, with Miami trading for star Connecticut point guard Shabazz Napier … Marcus Smart became the highest draft pick out of Oklahoma State since Vancouver made the unfortunate decision to select Bryant (Big Country) Reeves with its first-ever draft pick at No. 6 overall back in 1995 … This is the second straight year two Canadians (Wiggins and Nik Stauskas) have been selected in the lottery (Anthony Bennett and Kelly Olynyk in 2013). Wiggins and Stauskas had high praise for each other, with Wiggins saying of his friend: “I watched him play throughout high school, and AAU a little bit and then college. I think he’s a great player, he’ll fit in great wherever he goes. He can create better than people think he can. He can create, he can score, he’s long, athletic, and we already know he can shoot the ball.” That we do. Stauskas is considered one of the three best shooters in the draft. The Michigan product would have been a perfect fit in Detroit, but Spencer Dinwiddie is a nice consolation prize. Stan Van Gundy is building something intriguing in the Motor City ... Drafts we liked: Detroit, Boston (Smart and Kentucky’s James Young); Utah (Dante Exum will draw tons of fouls and Rodney Hood will light it up from outside); L.A. (Randle and Jordan Clarkson) and Charlotte (Noah Vonleh and P.J. Hairston will bring all kinds of needed scoring to one of the NBA’s best defensive teams).

Raptors draft pick DeAndre Daniels won NCAA title at Connecticut

With all the attention on the Raptors’ first round selection, Bruno Caboclo, it was easy to forget the team also picked somebody else on Thursday night.

Former Connecticut Huskie DeAndre Daniels went to Toronto at No. 37, a few months after helping lead his team to the NCAA championship in Arlington, Tex.

Nobody expected the Huskies to come anywhere close to the title, just a year after being banned from the tourney, but Daniels and the rest of the squad had heart, as well as talent.

The lithe, 6-foot-9 forward will bring rebounding and scoring punch to Toronto, though he will have to bulk up considerably to defend power forwards, or prove he has the lateral quickness to guard small forwards in the NBA.